Clonakilty 3-14 O’Donovan Rossa 1-19

(After extra-time)

ANOTHER marathon west Cork county senior football championship derby finally ended with Clonakilty shaking off O’Donovan’s stubborn resistance in warm, humid conditions in Castlehaven on Saturday.

Clon, whose scores came from play, never fell behind in this round 3 game, which started at 3.30pm and only finished just after 5.30pm following a tension-filled encounter that carried huge significance for both clubs.

For Clon, there’s the prospect of a quarter-final draw to look forward to and a place in Premier Senior next season, but it’s tier 2 for Skibb in 2020.

Clon always had the luxury of Martin Scally’s well-taken 21st-minute goal to act as a buffer, leading by 1-6 to 0-4 at half-time in normal-time, until Skibb pounced for their lone effort after 41 minutes.

Elliott Connolly wriggled free of the defence to score with an impressive finish to the far corner of the net to blow the game wide open, Clon 1-8 to 1-6 ahead.

Even when captain Tom Clancy and Ben Ridgeway linked to set-up Ross Mannix for Clon’s second goal, six minutes later, Skibb simply refused to buckle.

Inspired by the free-taking of Kevin Davis, Skibb still trailed by four points with nine minutes remaining, 2-9 to 1-8, but rescued the tie with an heroic finish.

They bagged the closing four points, Rory Byrne, Davis (2) and Dylan Hourihane, five minutes into injury-time, to level matters for the only time, 2-11 to 1-14.

With the wind increasing, Skibb won the toss in extra-time and opted play with it in the opening period, but Clon resumed the better side.

Despite, Jack O’Mahony rolling a first-minute penalty wide, Clon found a third goal following a flowing move, which ended with impressive substitute David O’Mahony netting after 68 minutes, 3-13 to 1-15 at the break.

Again, Skibb came back strongly, scoring the closing three points, but Clon hung on.

Scorers for Clonakilty: R Mannix 1-3, D O’Regan 1-2, J O’Mahony 0-4, M Scally 1-0, T Anglin 0-3, B Ridgeway and S McEvoy 0-1 each

O’Donovan Rossa: K Davis 0-12 (0-9 f), E Connolly 1-0, R Byrne and D Hourihane 0-3 each, K Hurley 0-1.

CLONAKILTY: M White; M Shanley, F Coughlan, D Lowney; D Murphy, T Clancy, captain, L O’Donovan; S Nagle, T Anglin; G Barry, S White, J O’Mahony; B Ridgeway, M Scally, R Mannix. 

Subs: D O’Regan for Scally 41, P Walsh for Nagle 46, S McEvoy for Barry 48, D Lyons for Mannix 57, E Deasy for Lowney injured 59, C O’Donoghue for Deasy, black card, 71.

O’DONOVAN ROSSA: R Price; J O’Sullivan, E Fitzgerald, S Fitzgerald; J Keohane, D Hazel, P Crowley, captain; K Hurley, R Byrne; S O’Driscoll, E O’Donovan, D Hourihane; E Connolly, T Hegarty, K Davis. 

Subs: D Daly for O’Donovan injured 19, B Crowley for Hurley 55, J O’Driscoll for Keohane 57, S Crowley for Hegarty 59, K Cotter for S O’Driscoll 67, Hegarty for Hazel injured 77, R Long for S Fitzgerald injured 78.

Referee: J Ryan (Macroom).